MORE FROM UCLA

The easy thing to do right now is remove the interim tag from Ed Orgeron’s job title and simply hand him the keys to the USC football empire.

But the easy thing isn’t always the right thing.

No one would blame USC athletic director Pat Haden for being overly seduced by the past six weeks of inspired play by the Trojans, their five wins in six games including Saturday’s 20-17 shocker over No. 5 Stanford at the Coliseum, and give Orgeron the job full time.

Or be swayed by the 93,607 fans that filled the Coliseum — many of whom showed their support for Orgeron with hand-written posters — and by radio show callers pleading with Haden to give Orgeron the job.

They pay a good chunk of the bills, and their voices ring loud and clear in the halls of the USC athletic department, if not the bank account.

But there is a difference between six weeks of good football and the half-decade the next USC coach will help shape - and it’s imperative Haden take the broad view rather than the short.

Which means putting the past six weeks in their proper perspective and not rushing to lift the interim tag from Orgeron’s job title.

There will be a time and place to contemplate all that, in the quiet of early December without heightened emotions swirling and sufficiently removed from the weekly roller-coaster ride of a turbulent season.

Haden owes it to everyone, Orgeron included, to wait until then to make his decision.

“Obviously there’s going to be some decisions made here after we play UCLA. That’s totally out of my hands,” Orgeron said. “All I can do is everyday work on a daily basis to give everything I have to these young men and USC.”

And while it’s tempting to want to please the fan base, it isn’t always practical.

Especially when it comes to the biggest decision of your career.

There’s an old saying about listening too much to the fans: The more you do it, the sooner you’ll find yourself sitting next to them in the stands.

They are overly emotional and don’t always take the long view of things.

And quite simply, they’ll turn on you in a heartbeat if the hire blows up in your face.

No matter how much they urged you to make it.

No, this decision is far more complex than being easily won over by a popular coach who injected life into a program upon taking over for a gloomy predecessor — even if the decision to go for it on fourth-and-two at the Stanford 48 in the closing minute was as gutsy a call as we’ve ever seen.

Oregon was compelled to make the decision by reading his players correctly and understanding they deserved the opportunity to make a play to win the game.

Advertisement

“He could tell in our eyes we wanted to do this,” quarterback Cody Kessler said. “We were giving him that look and he could tell our offense didn’t want to come off the field.”

It was a courageous call by Oregon.

And it’s been an impressive six weeks.

But now is not the time to make him the full-time head coach.

No disrespect to Orgeron, who stepped into a difficult situation and did a remarkable job just salvaging a season, let alone turning it around.

And maybe when it’s all said and done, he’ll prove himself to be the right man for the job and Haden will reward him with a long-term contract.

But now is not the time.

No matter how much the fans clamor for it, or how hard the Trojans are playing or how much fun they’re having under Orgeron.

Or how desperately they want him to remain as coach.

“There’s no one else in the country like him that I’ve seen,” Kessler said. “We absolutely love him. We’d run through a brick wall for him.”

Kessler meant every word of it. And you can tell his feelings are shared by everyone in the locker room.

But that still isn’t enough to lift the interim tag on Orgeron right now.

Maybe he’s the right man for the job.

Or maybe he’s just the right man for the moment, but not the future.

It’s worth it to wait and see. And take a look at other candidates.

The worst thing Haden can do is stack Orgeron’s merits against the disaster Kiffin turned out to be. Frankly, any number of coaches were capable of turning loose the kind of talent the Trojans have once freed from the oppressive Kiffin.

Orgeron just happened to be the guy who eased up the pressure, stopped all the micro-managing and silliness under Kiffin and let the Trojans have fun playing football again.

But a lot of guys could have done that.

Maybe Orgeron is the difference maker, or maybe this was inevitable once Kiffin was cleared out of the building.

Maybe Orgeron really is this good.

Or maybe Kiffin was just that bad.

Point being, the more prudent comparison is Orgeron side-by-side with the other interested candidates.

And you have to figure there are quite a few coaches raising their eyebrows in interest right now, realizing the kind of talent still at the disposal of the USC coach and the endless pipeline that continues to feed more talent into the program.

Orgeron was the longest of long shots to get the full-time gig after replacing Lane Kiffin

And he’s clearly made a strong case for being the full-time guy.

“I think everything happens for a reason. I think there’s a greater plan,” Orgeron said. “What that plan is, I don’t know. But we’ll work together on a daily basis, that’s all I know.”